Amour 31
Sitting alone, loue bids me goe and write;Reason plucks backe, commaunding me to stay,Boasting that shee doth still direct the way,Els senceles loue could neuer once indite.Loue, growing angry, vexed at the spleene,And scorning Reasons maymed Argument,Straight taxeth Reason, wanting to inventWhere shee with Loue conuersing hath not beene.Reason, reproched with this coy disdaine,Dispighteth Loue, and laugheth at her folly,And Loue, contemning Reasons reason wholy,Thought her in weight too light by many a graine.Reason, put back, doth out of sight remoue,And Loue alone finds reason in my loue.
Words in this poem
- indite v. t.
- To compose; to write; to be author of; to dictate; to prompt. [OE. enditen to indite, indict, OF. enditer to indicate, show, dictate, write, inform, and endicter to accuse; both fr. LL. indictare to show, to accuse, fr. L. ]
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- invent v. t.
- To come or light upon; to meet; to find. [L. inventus, p. p. of invenire to come upon, to find, invent; pref. in- in + venire to come, akin to E. come: cf. F. inventer. See Come.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Amour 31 is in the public domain. This text is taken from Minor Poems of Michael Drayton, Project Gutenberg ebook #17873; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Michael Drayton, Amour 31, in Minor Poems (1594–1619), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #17873, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/drayton-minor-poems/amour-31.html, id L20572.
Form and metre
Amour 31 is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBACDDCEFFEGG. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABBACDDCEFFEGG writeA · stayB · wayB · inditeA · spleeneC · argumentD · inventD · beeneC · disdaineE · follyF · wholyF · graineE · remoueG · loueG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Sitting alone, loue bids me goe and write; | 10 | /˘˘/······ |
| Reason plucks backe, commaunding me to stay, | 10 | /˘········ |
| Boasting that shee doth still direct the way, | 10 | /˘····˘/·· |
| Els senceles loue could neuer once indite. | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Loue, growing angry, vexed at the spleene, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘··· |
| And scorning Reasons maymed Argument, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Straight taxeth Reason, wanting to invent | 10 | ···/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Where shee with Loue conuersing hath not beene. | 10 | ·········· |
| Reason, reproched with this coy disdaine, | 10 | /˘··˘····· |
| Dispighteth Loue, and laugheth at her folly, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| And Loue, contemning Reasons reason wholy, | 11 | ·····/˘/˘·· |
| Thought her in weight too light by many a graine. | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Reason, put back, doth out of sight remoue, | 9 | /˘······· |
| And Loue alone finds reason in my loue. | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.